1. Field of the Invention
This invention concerns a basic arrangement of a ski binding having a front part or a toe end and a rear part or a heel end for securing the ski boot, with
a front supporting part, longitudinally displaceable on a first base part fixed on the ski, for the front boot holding part and a rear supporting part, longitudinally displaceable on another base part fixed on the ski, for the rear boot holding part, and with
an adjusting device designed as a rack-and-pinion gear for simultaneous adjustment of both supporting parts, having two toothed racks, each connected to a supporting part, and a manually operable, lockable gearwheel which meshes with both toothed racks between the two supporting parts.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Such a basic arrangement is the object of Austrian Patent 2630/90. According to this publication, the toothed racks in the area of the gearwheel pass through a housing which is designed on the one hand as a bearing housing for the gearwheel and on the other hand as a toothed rack guide and holds the toothed racks constantly in a plane falling in the radial mid-plane of a gearwheel. This housing is movable in the direction of the vertical axis of the ski, i.e, the vertical position of this housing is defined by the toothed racks, and with flexing movements of the ski, the vertical spacing of the housing changes relative to the top side of the ski. A similar device is found in the German Patent DE 41 35 899. Again, the device, which is in the middle of the ski, rises from the ski when the ski is bent.
By contrast, in Salomon, U.S. Pat. No. 3,987,553, a ski binding adjustment device having a gear in a box which is screwed to the ski is presented. Since the box is fixedly attached to the ski, this device has no free movement and no flexibility when the ski bends.
In practice, this design has not proven successful, because with flexing movements of the ski, considerable stresses can occur between the housing and the toothed racks, so that after prolonged use, the correct engagement of gearwheel and toothed racks cannot be guaranteed with the desired certainty.
Essentially a basic arrangement of the type defined in the preamble, however, offers the advantageous possibility of adapting a binding quickly to different ski boot sizes. Ski bindings with such basic parts are therefore especially suitable for use as loaners.
The object of this invention is to guarantee a high operating reliability with a basic arrangement of the type defined in the preamble with a simple construction.
This object is achieved according to this invention by the fact that the gearwheel has a locked position rigidly mounted on the ski and the toothed racks are mounted so they can pivot about a transverse axis in the meshing zone of the gearwheel.
This invention is based on the general idea of preselecting a fixed position for the locked gearwheel relative to the neighboring zone of the. ski and designing the meshing of the gearwheel and toothed rack so that the toothed racks remain tiltable about a transverse axis of the ski in the meshing zone and accordingly can largely freely follow flexing movements of the ski in which the front and rear end of the ski are bent upward relative to the middle of the ski.
The meshing zone can be predefined accurately by a ski-side support of the toothed racks at the aforementioned pivot axis.
According to a preferred embodiment of this invention, the gearwheel is arranged on another base part which is separate from the front and rear base parts and is essentially stationary on the ski and can be indirectly over the front and rear base parts in a stationary mount on the ski in an especially preferred manner. According to this embodiment, the base parts for guiding the carrying parts and for bearing of the gearwheel are designed in the manner of a flexible linked belt, which can follow the flexing movements of the ski easily.
In addition, in an expedient embodiment of this invention, the gearwheel may be arranged to be axially movable against a spring force such that the spring force of the gearwheel applies tension in the locked position.
Very strong springs may be provided here, so that the gearwheel can be lifted out of its locked position only by means of a separately operated unlocking element.
In the unlocked position of the gearwheel, the unlocking element or its handle assumes an obtrusive position which interferes in skiing, so that the fact that it is unlocked will be noticed in any case.
The position of the unlocking element allocated to the locked position of the gearwheel is preferably designed as a catch position, where the spring system putting tension on the gearwheel into its locked position may also act as a catch spring system.
According to an especially preferred embodiment, the gearwheel can be adjusted by means of a lever into the locked position and the unlocked position, whereby in the unlocked position of the gearwheel, the lever projects beyond the longitudinal edge of the ski and is put under tension into its position locking the gearwheel by a spring system. The position of the lever unlocking the gearwheel is expediently designed as top dead center.